A showcase of current research from students in the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds.

Anne Barber: Parametrisation of convective cloud dynamics

Convective clouds play an important role in weather and climate systems by transporting heat, moisture and momentum upwards through the atmosphere. The small scale dynamics and microphysics of these clouds cannot be represented explicitly by numerical weather and climate models and instead may be represented by a parametrisation scheme. Such schemes approximate the in-cloud processes by relating them to processes that are explicitly resolved by the model. This talk will introduce some current convection parametrisations and discuss how new schemes may be created through use of Large Eddy Simulation.

Niall Gandy: Breaking the ice – how did the British Ice Sheet melt away in northwest Scotland?

During the last ice age, the majority of the British Isles was covered in ice thousands of meters thick. As the climate warmed, this ice retreated back to higher ground. However, in northwest Scotland, retreat started before it is believed the climate started to warm. The retreat also accelerated with time. This work uses computer simulations to reveal the mechanisms which allow deglaciation to be disconnected from the background climate changes. Understanding these mechanisms are key to understanding the processes of ice sheet retreat in the current warming world.

Ben Pickering: The Golden Age of UK Weather Radar

At the end of 2017, the last of the 15 UK Met Office radars were upgraded to have dual-polarisation technology. This upgrade enables the radars to identify precipitation type where only precipitation amount could be previously estimated. This talk will explain how type-detection is achieved and the work being done at Leeds to verify these new observations, including the installation of a network of laser precipitation instruments.

About the Royal Meteorological Society Yorkshire Centre.

The Yorkshire Centre is one of several local centres around the UK that organise regular meetings for those interested in all aspects of meteorology. Speakers present talks on a variety of topics and the meetings provide an opportunity to meet other members socially.

Unless stated otherwise, all meetings are held in the Level 8 Seminar Room, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds. The talks are free and open to members and non-members alike.